Thing #23

•Go back to your thoughts/ideas about Library 2.0. Has anything changed as a result of this experience? Well, I realized that I am not as technologically behind the times as I thought that I was. Most things were not as difficult to use as I thought they would be. I found many things that I can/and will definitely use. Even if some things are not my cup of tea, I was really happy that I was able to tinker with them, and I feel that it is really important to know about some of these tools to be informed, both as a teacher and a parent!
•What were your favorite Things and discoveries? I loved all the "things" that dealt with pictures and visual tools (avatars, mosaics, wordle, etc.).
•How did you connect with others doing the 23 Things On a Stick? It was fun to see what others were doing and read their blogs and get ideas about how the different "things" could be used in an elem. setting. There were quite a few people from my school, so it was neat to hear their ideas and now we can bounce things off each other during the year.
•Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
•What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or content?
•If we offered a 23 More Things On a Stick program like this in the future would you participate?
•How would you describe your learning experience in one word or in one sentence, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things On a Stick learning activities to others? Once I got started it wasn't as overwhelming as I thought it might be. Most things were really fun to try out! I really feel like I gained a lot of great, new, useful information.

Thing #22

Wow...I did learn a lot of cool things. Some were a little over my head, some were right up my alley and some will be for the future.
I want to be realistic with my goals and here is what I think that I can tackle now:

1. I would like to keep up my blog and link it to my webpage. Most of my students' families will not be interested in my 23 things, but they will be interested in some other areas of my life that I am willing to share about
2. I am going to try to do more fun stuff with pictures in my classroom this year. I really want to hit on the Mosaic and the trading cards. I want people to know who is in my classroom even when no one is physically present.
3. Fridays after school are my best catch up time. I feel like this is when I will set aside time to update things and try out new ones.

Thing #21

I perused Ning, but it didn't really catch my interest. A little too specialized in not my specialty area. I like the idea of specializing, but then that does limit your network. I am not sure where I stand on this. All I know is that right now I cannot sign up for one more thing. Again, my stage of life doesn't allow for a lot of "me" time right now. I know that will eventually change and then maybe I will jump on board. I did check out some of the "craft" sites. Cool ideas for things like homemade Halloween costumes, etc.

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=f18bb04ac8df5ec45dc7d6ec54282e4f&topic=272388.msg3076553#msg3076553

Thing #20

Well, this thing was easy. I have been on Facebook for a couple of years now. When I first joined, I was on it a lot. I spent hours messing around with it. I do really like it as a social tool. It is an easy way to let many people you know something about yourself or a generic message, etc. However, what I do not like about it is that it can take up a lot of time if you let it, and sometimes there are just things that I want to keep more private and not plaster all over the web. I think that sometimes people get hurt feelings if you don't respond back to their "poke" or "little green patch" that they have sent you. I am not into any of that stuff. The one thing that I really worry about these social network tools is that young people don't always have a grasp of long term effects. Whatever you put on Facebook can literally be seen by everyone, and sometimes that can be damaging. People can post pictures of you on their site without getting your permission, etc.
Yes, there are dangers but I can totally understand why this is the fastest growing network. It is fun, easy to use and let's you connect with people in an instant. However, as a parent and teacher, I always have to be a watchdog!

Thing #19

I haven't experimented with podcasts much. My stage of life doesn't really allow me to listen, watch or sit down for more than 2 minutes before my 2 cherubs need me for something. However, I think that there is a lot of potential for the use of podcasts in elementary school. The most obvious one is having the students do book reviews. I was also thinking that it might be fun to have kids use podcasting to do a demo speech on something that they like/are good at, etc.
I didn't really know how to find podcasts, so the directories in this site were really helpful. I used podcast.com the most. I listened to some parenting casts, educational casts and kid book review casts. There is a lot of potential for this "thing" and I am excited to give it a whirl with my students!
http://kids.podcast.com/show/19940/Kids-Book-Review/

Thing #18

YouTube is great for many things. It can be educational and purely entertaining. There are so many things to explore that it can take a good chunk of time. What I have been amazed about is how many of my 3rd graders are always watching YouTube videos. I even had a student do their non-fiction book report on a YouTube video. It is an amazing tool and I really want to embrace it. It does take filtering, but I think that it can be worth it. It has many possibilities for instruction, projects and student work!
I chose this site because it is of one of my students and his submission to the Imagination Fair at our school. He was so proud to show it to our class. Bravo Alex!

The second one I picked because I just liked it around the holidays!

Thing #17

This was really cool to look at. I love that there are so many places to find information. Some sites look really good for kids too. It does take some filtering through though to make sure the info received is quality. I really like the Kid InfoBits section. Our wonderful Lisa Dooley already had us linked up with that here at Highlands, and it was helpful.
Next year, we will be studying the states and regions of the U.S. so I know that we can tap into the Geography section to get some help for the kids and their reports.

http://galenet.galegroup.com.proxy.elm4you.org/servlet/KidsInfoBits?subTopic=U.S.%2BStates&locID=mnsminitex&topic=Geography&ste=3

Thing #16

Wow...okay I think that this is an awesome tool. Again, how my college years would have been different if I had something like this. This is savvy, and completely useful. I love the step by step plan that it lays out. I really liked the Assignment Calculator and how it had the quick start information about how to even attempt finding books in the U of MN library. This seems really helpful. I like on the RPC how you can choose your presentation, whether it was an essay or slide show, etc. Time management is such an important skill that many people do not have a good grasp on. This could be really helpful. Even high school students could really benefit from this.
I wonder if someone could make an elementary version. In third grade we are really starting their first "big" research project. They are starting from bare bones, so this tool would be overwhelming, but I wonder if there is something for us primary teachers in the future... food for thought!

Thing #15

I checked out Second Life. I did not sign up for an account however. To me, this is a total time sucker. Gaming is just not my thing. I don't even play the Wii we have at home. However, I can see how this would appeal to many young people (how old am I??) who have different priorities and maybe more fluid time accessible to them. The images were very realistic and it is fun to mess around with avatars, etc. I do not think that it is very academically purposeful, and probably not a good fit for elementary school. With all the debates about our kids and screen time, I just couldn't find myself being a proponent. As always, it is good to know what is out there - for my students and my own children.
To all the gamers out there...no offense!

Thing #14

I checked out LibraryThing. It seems very similar to Shelfari that I already have started and don't really keep up with. My goal this summer was to read a whole list of books and put them on, but so far I haven't completed that goal. I would love to get more books on there and then add it to our classroom website so kids and parents can see what I might recommend. I don't feel like I have enough of an inventory to do that quite yet.
The one thing about LibraryThing that I thought was neat was that there are so many librarians on it. If anyone would know about good books, it would be them, so that is a huge resource to tap into.
I am a pretty visual person and I personally just like the look of Shelfari better. It seems less "cluttered", probably not as academic, but less cluttered non-the-less.

Thing #13

I did look around these different start pages. It was pretty easy to decide to use Google because that is what we are using for our classroom webpage and it just seems easy to streamline everything. I worked with many of the gadgets in Google and it is sometimes hard to limit things. I signed up for Remember the milk. Not sure if I will use it much or not. Sometimes it is just easier to have a notepad in my purse or desk easily accessible to quickly jot stuff down. I think that I could get into some of these tools a lot more if I were a person who was always online. At work, I am not often at my computer unless it is before or after school. I don't have a fancy iPhone or other phone that I am constantly checking. If I had a job that required me to be in an office and access a computer at all times, things might be different.
The one thing that I really do love and use often is my online calendar. It is easy for my hubby and I to synch our different activities.

Thing #12 - Totally Don't Digg

I have to say either I am totally old and no longer "with it" or something isn't clear to me. I was not really impressed with what I saw on these sites. I completely understand that the point is to not have things edited, and to let readers choose for themselves what is important. I thought that most of the "popular" items were pretty graphic. It saddens me to realize what kids are able to view and what they are believing to be important. I think about my 3rd graders and then my own children and feel a little helpless as to what I can shelter them from. The good thing is that I have been exposed to this now and have a better understanding of the tool. I am sure that there are ways to use this productively, but I think I am a little tainted. My clientele is so young that I still feel like I need to shelter them from some of this stuff.
However, in an effort to participate in this "thing" I tried to find something I thought would be safe like lipstick. This lead into several topics related to health and beauty that I was not meaning to get into. I did find some articles on Eco Friendly cosmetics so that is what I am sharing. A little bummed about this one...

Thing #12 Sharing

Beauty Loot: Green Beauty Bargains

Posted using ShareThis

Thing #11

I certainly never heard of, or used Delicious or any other tool like it. Wow, how dumb have I been???? No one really needs to answer that! :) I really love the idea of being able to access bookmarks from any computer. I did set my own account and have imported all my sites. It threw my husband off a bit, but I think that it is pretty cool.
I am not sure if I will use this for teaching or anything, but I think that the possibilities for secondary teachers/students is great. With the need for research, etc. this tool is awesome. Boy would my college years have been different. I would not have needed to spend so much time in the smelly basement of the library!
I do like the idea of grabbing sites that I can use with my peers on topics like monarchs. Deb and Wally, let's talk!

Thing #10 - Wikis

Here is the wiki that I used this last year for parents to sign up for conferences and to have class pictures available for parents to see, etc. To be honest, I didn't really think that the wiki was really easy to use. I am not sure if it was just PB Wiki, or if other services were equally difficult. I just found that having people request access, sign in, etc was a bit daunting for all involved. I also didn't love the layout but didn't want to pay extra for a nicer look. The one good thing that the wiki seemed to bring is that once everyone finally figured out how to use it, parents could sign up for office hours without having to directly contact me every time. It did lighten my load in that respect. I am hoping that Google Docs will be a better, more efficient avenue for me and my parent communication next year.

http://pattysuewiki.pbworks.com/

Thing #9 - Collaboration Tools

Okay, I have to say that I loved Google Docs a lot more than Zoho and it just makes more sense to me to use this since our webpage will be through Google, etc.

It was easy to maneuver around, although I am sure that there is a lot more that I can learn. I created a presentation that I plan to send home to the parents in my classroom. I set up my teaching partner as a collaborator and I guess I am ready to roll. I can see this being used a lot for collaboration amongst my peers, especially for our COP and things of that nature.

My one question is: Does a person have to have a google account to view a doc or to be a collaborator?

Thing #8 - Sharing

I enjoyed going through these different sites.

I currently do not use any of them, so it was fun to see the possibilities. I messed around with Mosaic Maker and Picture Trails. I think that I will use Picture Trails as the school year starts to add to our website. Camp pictures and other things happening in the classroom are always hot items that parents want to see. It seems like this might be a compatible tool, but we will see. As I get some pictures of the students working I will add them in a slideshow to our website.

I had an idea for the Mosaic maker. I was thinking that maybe we could ask parents to send us a picture of each student from the summer and then put them into Mosaic maker to have visible at open house. Seems like a fun idea.